POLYGONS IN AN AQUARIUM: After years of doubt, SquareEnix released a trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake that included some actual gameplay footage, which got Andrew and D. Bethel thinking about why a remake for Final Fantasy VII is necessary and why––it seems––the best way to keep PS1/Sega Saturn games viable in a modern market is to do full remakes rather than just porting them to modern machines.

WEEK IN GEEK: With all that’s been going on in the nerd world, our hosts take some time out for themselves this week. For Andrew, he attended the theatrical premiere of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind. D. Bethel stayed home to explore the digital recreation of classical Egypt while playing Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins.

Wise Captain-Father (19 April 2019): When D. and Andrew talk about the Notre Dame cathedral fire and how Ubisoft’s research into the monument for Assassin’s Creed: Unity may help ease its rebuilding efforts.

RELEVANT LINKS:

Here’s the nightmare chocobo camel Dan witnessed. You have been warned:

ENDGAME POSTGAME: SPOILER WARNING Andrew and D. Bethel have both seen Avengers: Endgame and, conveniently, the Russo brothers lifted the spoiler ban on Monday; so, our hosts dive right into soup of scenes, moments, narrative threads, and surprises that make up this landmark movie.

"..And whoever saves one, it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.."(Quran 5:32)And without realizing the MCU manifested the most heroic act a Muslim could do, saving Tony Starks life that one day on May 2, 2008, Ho Yinsen indirectly ends up saving the whole universe in 2023. pic.twitter.com/ZSoyOjJvad

THE NAME OF THE GAME: The first trailer for the upcoming live-action cinematic adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has––as can be expected––drawn a lot of conversation and criticism…including on your favorite nerdy-geeky podcast. Andrew and D. Bethel have a lot to say about the trailer and, in a larger scope, movie adaptations of video games and what works and what doesn’t. But first, the trailer:

Seems to me that in order to adapt a beloved IP like, sayyyyy, a video game, you need to start with a simple question- what do fans love about this character? What do they love about this world? What FEELING does this game give them? How can we strive to create that feeling?

AVENGERS CODA: With the release Avengers: Endgame this week (this is SPOILER FREE since neither have seen the film yet), Andrew and D. Bethel decide to examine a few aspects of the MCU and, especially, what and how Avengers: Infinity War set up this big finale. They discuss an analysis of Thanos as a sympathetic villain, what they’re looking forward to after this movie’s release, and briefly discuss Andrew’s attempted rewatch of 11 years of MCU entries.

NOTRE-DAME THE TORPEDOES: We open this week talking about the tragic fire at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, focusing on how its rebuilding efforts may be aided by the diligent work of Ubisoft (and the work they put into making Assassin’s Creed: Unity.

For context of the jokes Andrew and D. Bethel make at the end of this segment:

THIS SHOULDN’T WORK: Andrew and D. Bethel talk about a tv show they’ve been mildly reticent to discuss because they can’t believe it’s actually good: Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville––an unabashed Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation pastiche that is actually becoming some of the best Star Trek available.

CONSOLE WARS II: THE NEW CHALLENGERS: Things got shaken up in the world of video games––maybe––as Google announced its streaming-forward gaming platform––maybe––called Stadia while Apple announced its gaming-focused subscription platform––maybe––called Apple Arcade. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the merits of these announcements and how they either apply, predict, or completely misread the gaming landscape.

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew dives into the storied No Man’s Sky and kind-of-fights with Dan about games media coverage while D. Bethel relates his experience speaking about comics––and his webcomic, Long John, to a college graphic novels as literature class.

A MARVEL OF A MOVIE: Albeit a few weeks late, both Andrew and D. Bethel have finally seen Marvel Studios’ newest entry into their cinematic universe with Captain Marvel, and they have a lot to say about it. This conversation does discuss SPOILERS for the film, so be wary of listening if you have not yet seen the film.

WEEK IN GEEK: We start with Andrew getting a bit sick while trying to play multiple versions of Minecraft before D. Bethel gets charmed by the grimdark world of the 2017 NetherRealm hit, Injustice 2, and then rounding back to Andrew as he talks about Rodney Thompson’s heist RPG in a box, Dusk City Outlaws.